Opinions & Interviews
Belarus PM on key goals for EAEU: equal business conditions, common markets
CHOLPON-ATA, 9 August (BelTA) – The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) needs to continue its efforts to create equal business doing conditions and develop common markets, Belarus’ Prime Minister Sergei Rumas said at the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
“We need to continue working to create equal business doing conditions in the Eurasian Economic Union. We are gradually learning to make decisions of national level keeping in mind our commitments to the EAEU. This is an achievement,” Sergei Rumas said. At the same time, companies are still inquiring about the rules of operation on the markets of the EAEU member states, access to public procurement, subsidies for national producers, transit, customs and tariffs and other issues. This all needs solutions taking into account the norms of the Treaty of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Belarusian head of government said.
The agreement on labeling goods by means of identification in the Eurasian Economic Union came into force in March 2019. Labeling of goods secures transparency of commodity flows and helps stop counterfeiting. The introduction of means of identification should not become another tool for constraining domestic trade. “Belarus speaks in favor of well-balanced and consistent decisions. We believe that the agreement will be most effective when all the member states take part in the identification of commodity flows,” Sergei Rumas said.
Another important goal for the EAEU is to take measures for a prompt shift to coordinated and, in the future, common industrial and agro-industrial policies.
“Cooperation in industry and farming sector will help the states approach new innovative projects in the Eurasian Economic Union, increase the output of competitive high-technology products, assist the implementation of import substitution programs,” Sergei Rumas said.
The union is developing a common concept on strategic planning of the single industrial and agrarian policies, development and promotion of SMEs, implementation of science and technology projects. One of the recently adopted documents in the area was the April decision to set up ecosystems of partnership, cooperation and subcontracting.
“Such decisions are aimed at creating conditions for expanding areas of cooperation in the industrial and farming sectors. Today it is important to invite companies of the EAEU member states, businessmen to join interaction in the area,” the prime minister stressed.
In his words, the states need to continue working on the development of common markets in the EAEU. The development of energy markets continue. However, the issue of regulating gas transportation tariffs by economic entities still remains unsettled.
The common transport market should be formed by 2025. Sergei Rumas stressed that this area also has serious issues to address. Among them is the slow implementation of the shipping program.
The agenda of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting includes the issue related to the development of the common financial market. “It is important to make this work scrupulously to avoid any mistakes and gaps which may in the future become an obstacle for the full implementation of the agreements,” the head of government said.
According to Belarus, the financial market should be full-fledged and free to ensure healthy competition and equal conditions for the participants of the economic relations within the union.
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